Counterfeit Movies and Music Seized by Police at Border Market

Four Cambodian woman were detained and over 34,000 pirated CDs, VCDs and DVDs of music taken from four vending booths at a border marketplace in Surin province on Thursday, said authorities.

A total of 34,243 pirated music and film discs were seized from four booths and four Cambodian sellers arrested at the scene. Some of the counterfeit movies were pornographic, authorities said.

The four female sellers – identified as Da Wan, 33, Mom Ing, 27, Supa Suen, 20 and Walee Dee, 20 – told police that they were merely workers and the booths and pirated goods belonged to dealers in Cambodia.

The defendants were initially charged with making pirated discs in breach of the copyright law and were handed over to Kap Choeng authorities for legal action.

Pol Maj Gen Karnchapot Chaisiricharnpana, leader of Surin authorities, said sellers sold pirated goods openly at the marketplace without any fear of police. The booths sold pirated discs cheaply, 3-5 cds for just 100 baht, he said.

They’d crossed the border to the marketplace in the morning and returned to Cambodia in the evening and received a salary of 200 baht per day.

He said measures should be tightened to control migrant workers selling goods in Thailand.